U.S. Marshals in Texas Now Arresting Those with Student Debt

Houston, Texas – U.S. Marshals have begun to arrest citizens with outstanding student debt in Houston. According to Representative Gene Green, the federal government has turned to debt collection agencies to collect on delinquent loans, and the debt collectors have in turn “secured judgements against debt holders in federal court,” according to a report by Time.

The U.S. Marshals Service in Houston has stated they intend to continue the practice, and currently have between 1200 and 1500 warrants to serve. According to reports, a man who owed $1,500 from a federal student loan from 1987, is one of the many individuals who have already been arrested:

If this practice spreads, the majority of Americans would be left with one of two options: Get a higher education and risk going to jail—tuition fees are only climbing—or simply don’t get an education at all. On top of the rising cost of tuition and the debt it creates, many graduates are unable to secure a job as nearly three-quarters of hiring managers claim that millennials lack “work ethic” and are not ready for the job market.

We already live in a nation where more than 1 in 100 citizens are incarcerated, most of which have been imprisoned for non-violent drug offenses. Now that marijuana is becoming more accepted, will those with outstanding student debts be one of the next targets? Will jailing them—which can potentially cause additional debt with court costs and fines, as well as costing taxpayers—really solve the problem? This recent move is somewhat frightening, especially considering the Student Loan Debt Clock exceeds $1 trillion, with somewhere around 40 million Americans having a student loan debt. Anything to keep the prison-industrial-complex going.

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